Preparedness for when

moneyistooshorttomention

pineapple wrote: »

How old are you Living proof? I go back to the times when a Vesta Curry was EXOTIC!

Yuk! Cardboard City food. Yep...I remember that....:p

EDIT; Mygawd - it's still available - agh!

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

I don't remember pre-decimal coinage. I was alive, but not handling cash, just a young girl.

OK, for the (comparatively) young folk on the thread, here's how it worked.

There were 240 pennies in a a pound, and 20 shillings in a pound.

That meant, there were 12 pennies in a shilling.

Pre-decimal coins had the following denominations.

Five Shilling coin - also known as a "Crown".

Two shillings and Six Penny coin - also known as a "Half Crown".

Two shillings coin (also known as "Two Bob"), with a variant called a Florrin.

A One Shilling - also known as a "Bob".

A Six Penny coin (half a Shilling) - also known as a "Tanner".

A Three Penny coin - also know as a "Threepenny Bit".

A Penny coin.

A Half Penny coin - also knows as a "ha'penny".

and, going back before even my time, a Quarter Penny coin - also known as a "Farthing".

Half a Pound was a paper note, known as a Ten Shilling/Ten Bob note.

Likewise, there was a One Pound note, and, as now, a £5, £10, £20 note.

As you will no doubt have realised, since 240 cannot be divided exactly by one hundred, when decimal currency was introduced, low priced items could not be directly converted, so shops rounded up prices, thereby making a nice profit for themselves.

pollyanna_26

Pineapple I think the thing that amazed most people was it was a couple of packets and boiling water .
I think bland may not be totally true in those years . Much depended on where you lived . One of the big towns we visited in the fifties and sixties was Liverpool . A major port where the worlds goods arrived round the clock , many seafarers from other countries made their home there and china town ,granby and different communities influenced food in a massive way . I remember the old market now long replaced . As a child in the 50s the spices and herbs and vegetables and fruits were amazing . Those goods were available freely in the street markets and even our far afield village greengrocer would sell ginger root and similar .
I also feel veg really did taste better then in the main . It wasn't forced and fussed with and needed little if any seasoning .
From potatoes and exotic spices we have traded with the world and they have bought our goods in return . I can't see a need for that to change .
polly

DawnW

I was about 13 and working in a shop on Saturdays (you could in those days, and it did me no harm ) when decimal currency came in, and one of my jobs was to change prices from old to new currency. What happened, there at any rate, was that prices were changed to the same in new coinage as they had been in old, so an item that cost 6d before, cost 6p after :eek: I understand that 'my' shop were by no means alone in doing this, so there were big price rises, that not everyone noticed at the time.

BTW Bob, I remember farthings, pretty little coins with wrens on them, but not crowns, which didn't seem to be in existence except for ceremonial things like Churchill crowns (I have one of those still, given to me by my grandfather when they were issued). 'Ordinary' currency were 1/2d, 1d, 3d, 6d, 1 shilling, two shillings, half crown, and then you got the 10s and £1, £5 note etc. And as you say, the farthings that had disappeared some time before. I do remember having these for primary school bus fares, and if I was lucky, sweetie money though

DawnW

pineapple wrote: »

How old are you Living proof? I go back to the times when a Vesta Curry was EXOTIC!

My Dad used to have these, because Mum had no idea how to cook a curry, and he had fond memories of Indian food when stationed there while in the army

[Deleted User]

ivyleaf wrote: »

Who else remembers that you used to be able to buy a really big bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk for the equivalent of 5p?

I remember when you could get 4 Blackjacks, or Fruit Salad, sweets for a Penny.

That's 960 for £1, if only we'd had a whole pound back then.

DawnW

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I remember when you could get 4 Blackjacks, or Fruit Salad, sweets for a Penny.

That's 960 for £1, if only we'd had a whole pound back then.

A whole pound? :eek: Unheard of! 2d or 3d was the norm, but occasionally Grandfather would give us each a 6d, riches indeed

[Deleted User]

milasavesmoney wrote: »

This neighbor is so funny!!! :rotfl:

I love your American way of spelling.

As George Bernard Shaw put it:-

The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.

[Deleted User]

DawnW wrote: »

but occasionally Grandfather would give us each a 6d, riches indeed

Whenever they emptied the meters, my siblings and I would get a Shilling each, from the refund. :cool:

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

I go back to the times when a Vesta Curry was EXOTIC!

Me too.

When I first discovered them, I ate them almost every day.